


And Now, It's Time to Leave and Turn to Dust

by FyireMoon



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Character Death, Everyone is #unhappy, Good game parents are my weakness and Intsys hurt me, Grief, Last words, Selectively Mute Byleth, So I need to spread the sadness, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-08-12 02:27:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20127745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FyireMoon/pseuds/FyireMoon
Summary: Byleth's first and last words are laid to rest amid rain and blood





	And Now, It's Time to Leave and Turn to Dust

**Author's Note:**

> There are spoilers in this so if you haven't hit the time skip yet then I'd recommend saving this for later!

_ “Thank you...Kid.”  _

“No.” Byleth can’t help the tears streaming down her cheeks, or the waver in her voice, “No, please, don’t leave me.” She grips her father’s vest, shaking him, “Please, you  _ can’t _ !” 

She hasn’t spoken this much in years, maybe ever. The words escape her in a desperate plea, drowned out by the rain that pelts against her. Her body shakes, grief and fear and  _ cold  _ forcing an awful tremble into her hands as she clings to her father’s body. 

Jeralt’s eyes are closed, his face relaxed and the tension gone from his shoulders. He looks so peaceful, so  _ wrong _ . The sobs catch in her throat, strangling her, and she pitches forward to press her forehead against her father’s chest. The tears burn like acid, mixing with the rainwater already soaked into Jeralt’s tunic. 

She refuses to sit still, to let her father die there without fighting tooth and nail to do something, anything for him. Byleth struggles to her feet, her boots sinking into the wet mud. Her vision floods white from standing so suddenly but she fights through it, bending to lift her father’s body. It’s a hard task, hoisting one of his arms over her shoulders and still trying to keep a hand on her sword. 

With shaking steps she starts towards where she’d left the rest of her class, half dragging half carrying her father’s heavy form. Her teeth are gritted so tight her jaw aches violently, her pace slow and splashing mug up on her cloak. Tears stream silently down her cheeks, her chest so tight from grief her breath can barely escape, let alone sobs. 

The sound of running footsteps splashing through the mud catches her attention, a flash of gold weaving through the trees, “Teach!” Claude jogs towards her, faltering when he takes in the sight, “We won- Is that… Jeralt?!” She tries to call out, but nothing makes it out. Claude is by her side in a second regardless, slipping Jeralt’s other arm over his shoulders. 

Leonie screams when she sees them. It shatters through the sound of the rain, breaking the last of Byleth’s resolve. Her legs give out, pulling Claude and her father down with her onto the cold ground. 

She clings to his body as the soldiers pull him away, Claude and Hilda holding her back. Byleth is too weak to fight them off, a heart that’s never once beat cracking into pieces with every step the soldiers take. Everything she was, everything she had learned and all the power she'd obtained had proved useless when she needed them most. 

The days that come to pass are silent. They took her father from her and she never speaks again, unable to muster the will to let her voice be heard. Jeralt heard her first words, and he was laid to rest bearing her last. She doesn’t speak when she finds his killer. She doesn’t speak when her student’s gasp at her godly appearance. She doesn’t speak when Edelgard twists the knife and reveals herself as the Flame Emperor. She doesn’t speak as the armies march on them. 

And even when she falls, the cliff giving out beneath her, her silence stays unbroken. 


End file.
